Tag: impeachment

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University Student President Facing Impeachment Over $50K Payment To Trump Jr & Girlfriend

Donald Trump Jr. and his mistress Kimberly Guilfoyle (screen capture)
The student body president of the University of Florida is facing possible impeachment for inviting Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle to the campus for speeches on October 10. Junior and Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign adviser, were reportedly paid a $50,000 fee for the appearance funded via student activity fees. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the law says public funds cannot be used to support political campaigns. Student body president Michael C. Murphy received a formal resolution for his impeachment Tuesday afternoon, which was signed by more than 100 students and alumni. This is only the second time in the university’s 115-year history a student body president has faced impeachment. The university’s student newspaper The Alligator reports that Murphy’s father, Dan Murphy, is a pro-Trump lobbyist in Washington, D.C. who has maxed out donations to Trump’s re-election campaign and has been photographed speaking to Trump Jr. in Washington. Michael Murphy didn’t answer questions related to his father’s involvement with the Trump campaign, nor with Trump Jr. He said there is “no conflict of interest.”  

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Former National Security Advisor Just Ghosted On His House Intelligence Committee Appearance

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton (image via White House - public domain)

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton (image via White House - public domain)
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton (image via White House – public domain)
Former White House national security adviser John Bolton was a no-show today for his scheduled closed-door deposition with the House Intelligence committee. Bolton reportedly told the House committees handling the ongoing impeachment inquiry that he planned to challenge any subpoenas that might be issued for him. The Washington Post reported this morning that Bolton “is willing to defy the White House and testify in the House impeachment inquiry about his alarm at the Ukraine pressure campaign if a federal court clears the way, according to people familiar with his views.” A spokesman for the House Intelligence Committee has already indicated Democrats have “no interest in allowing the administration to play a rope-a-dope with us in the courts for months.” The official added that the White House plan to block testimony will be viewed as further evidence of obstruction for a potential article of impeachment. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff announced on Wednesday that public impeachment hearings before his committee will begin next week. Legal experts have opined that House Democrats may believe they have enough evidence to proceed without the testimony of White House officials.

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Transcript: Former Ambassador Told To ‘Praise’ Trump To Save Her Job

Donald Trump
The House impeachment investigators have released the transcripts of two witnesses who have testified in the ongoing impeachment inquiry. One of the transcripts involving testimony from former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch indicates she was told to ‘praise’ Donald Trump publicly in order to save her job. From NBC News:

Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators last month that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told her she should tweet out support or praise for President Donald Trump if she wanted to save her job, according to a transcript of her testimony made public Monday.

The three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump released two transcripts of the behind-closed-doors interviews they have so far conducted as part of their investigation, as the probe moves to a more public phase.

Yovanovitch was interviewed by House investigators in October for more than nine hours and has emerged as a key figure in the investigation into Trump’s efforts to persuade Ukraine’s new government to commit publicly to investigate corruption and the president’s political opponents.

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New Poll: 49 Percent Support Impeaching/Removing Trump From Office

The results of a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows 49 percent of American voters support impeaching and removing Donald Trump from the presidency while 46 percent oppose. That’s an increase in support of impeachment by 6 points in a month, while the opposition has dropped 3 points. The poll also shows former Vice President Joe Biden would beat Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup by 9 points. Sen. Elizabeth Warren would also trump the Trumpster by an 8 point margin. Meanwhile, the Donald’s approval/disapproval rating has pretty much remained in the same range: 45 percent give Trump a thumbs-up while a majority of 53 percent disapprove of the job he’s doing. When you dive into the details, though, 31 percent say they ‘strongly’ approve versus 45 percent who say they ‘strongly’ disapprove. Here are the full results of the poll.

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Trump Booed Bigly At UFC Match In NYC

Donald Trump has ordered US military forces to the Middle East following an Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities

Donald Trump has ordered US military forces to the Middle East following an Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities After being booed at Game 5 of the World Series last Sunday, you’d think Donald Trump might have thought twice about attending another public sporting event. But I’m guessing the Trumpster assumed he’d be in safe territory taking in an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) match. However, when the president entered Madison Square Garden Saturday night he was greeted by a huge chorus of boos from the audience.

Joe Jervis, of JoeMyGod, was on the scene tweeting the ‘atmosphere:’

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News Round-Up: October 31, 2019

Joe Blizzard (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Joe Blizzard (above) looks a little too scared to venture out on Halloween, but looks just fine where he is… • LGBTQ Nation: LGBTQ members of Congress speak out on the Donald Trump impeachment resolution. • Back2Stonewall: Delta Airlines, which has scored 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) multiple times, apparently edited out all gay references and a same-sex kiss from the Elton John biopic Rocketman. • Throwback Thursday: Camp, camp, camp – Florence Henderson performs “That Old Black Magic” on the uber-gay The Paul Lynde Halloween Special October 29, 1976.

• 2020 Battleground States: A new NY Times/Siena University poll shows voters across six important swing states support the House impeachment inquiry 52-44 percent. However, at this time, a majority of those voters (52-42) oppose removing Trump from office. • OUT: After the dismal failure that was the Boston ‘Straight Pride’ Parade, the folks behind that debacle now plan to head south to Dallas, Texas,  to hold another bullsh*t anti-LGBTQ event there. • New York Times: A National Security Council aide, Timothy Morrison, testified on Thursday that a top diplomat close to Donald Trump told him that a package of military assistance for Ukraine would not be released until the country committed to investigating Trump’s political rivals, corroborating earlier impeachment inquiry testimony. • Global News: Global Calgary meteorologist Jordan Witzel showed up dressed as a mystical unicorn named Ferdinand for Halloween 2019, and no one on set could stop laughing as he tried to report the weather in his magical ensemble.

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House Approves Impeachment Resolution By Vote Of 232-196

The House of Representatives approved a resolution to move forward with a public phase of the ongoing-impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump by a vote of 232-196. Two Democrats – Rep. Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02) and Rep. Collin Peterson (MN-07) – voted against the resolution. Both represent districts where Trump won in 2016. Former Republican, now Independent, Rep. Amash voted for the resolution. No Republican voted in favor of the resolution. Four House members (one Democrat, 3 Republicans) didn’t vote. From the New York Times:

The vote was 232-196 to approve a resolution that sets out rules for an impeachment process for which there are few precedents, and which promises to consume the country a little more than a year before the 2020 elections. It was only the third time in modern history that the House had taken a vote on an impeachment inquiry into a sitting president.

Practically speaking, the resolution outlines the rights and procedures that will guide the process from here on out, including the public presentation of evidence and how Mr. Trump and his legal team will be able to eventually mount a defense.

Nancy Pelosi presided over the vote – a rare occurrence for a Speaker of the House.

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White House Rants – The House Impeachment Resolution Is ‘Illegitimate’

Donald Trump
After House Democrats released language for a resolution on proceeding with the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s communications with the president of Ukraine, the White House issued this statement – the equivalent of a written meltdown:

The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.

It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.

The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written.

This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.

The White House has said for weeks the inquiry was ‘illegitimate’ without a vote by the full House, which is not required by the U.S. Constitution. Now they’re getting one.

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First Witness To Ukraine Call To Testify In Impeachment Inquiry Today

Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
From the New York Times:

A White House national security official who is a decorated Iraq war veteran plans to tell House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he heard President Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate one of his leading political rivals, a request the aide considered so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior.

Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman of the Army, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, twice registered internal objections about how Mr. Trump and his inner circle were treating Ukraine, out of what he called a “sense of duty,” he plans to tell the inquiry, according to a draft of his opening statement obtained by The New York Times.

He will be the first White House official to testify who listened in on the July 25 telephone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, in which Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In another article, the Times notes that Colonel Vindman has a master’s degree from Harvard in Russian, Eastern Europe, and Central Asian Studies. He has served in the United States’ embassies in Kyiv, Ukraine, and in Moscow, and was the officer specializing in Russia for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before joining the National Security Council in 2018. He earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, had a master’s degree from Harvard, and now works at the White House across the hall from his equally accomplished twin brother. However, since he was brought to the United States as a 3-year-old child from Ukraine, right-leaning news outlets and social media have already begun a smear campaign against him calling Vindman some kind of Ukraine double agent/spy. Trump himself tweeted that Vindman is a ‘Never Trumper,’ for which there is no evidence or proof.